


magic makes the world go round

by goldkirk



Series: All This Happy Mess [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, also some psychology, anyway, basic energy physics 101, he hasn't learned to use snark very much yet he's still just a baby bones, kid len has a great family and I love him, magic instruction, wait till he's a teenager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 18:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11652042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldkirk/pseuds/goldkirk
Summary: Young Leonard McCoy knows about magic, but it takes a trip to Gran's and a summer in the countryside to learn it for himself.





	magic makes the world go round

Unlike some magical parents, David and Eleanora never tried to hide their use of magic from their son. Baby Leo grew into toddler Leo, surrounded by charmed baby mobiles and rubber ducks that bobbed around on their own in the bath, and his parents’ odd assortment of magical paraphernalia that they used throughout their everyday lives. The only rule was he couldn’t talk about it with people outside the family, because some people didn’t like magic, and when people were afraid they sometimes did bad things they normally wouldn’t do to other people. So Leonard slowly grew up, surrounded by magic, and while he wasn’t ashamed of his family’s abilities, he was very good at keeping his mouth shut.

 

Leonard’s daddy was a doctor, and a gardener, and damned good at both. And Leonard kind of wanted to be just like him when he grew up, but he also kind of wanted to be a basketball star, and last week he wanted to be a firefighter, so he figured it was maybe a moot point for right now.

 

The point was, Len loved his daddy, and his daddy was amazing, and it was only logical that Len spend as much time with his father as he could and learn all the things that made him amazing. Like how he fixed the pipes under the sink, and rode the horses, and made the kids who were sick at the hospital feel less scared, and how he set Len’s broken arm and fixed it all up in under an hour somehow when Len fell out of that tree on Aunt Maura’s land, and how he made stones glow pretty colors sometimes when one of the elderly folk from the neighborhood came by with headaches or aches in their bones from something or other.

 

Leonard’s mama was equally wonderful in her son’s eyes, but in different ways. Never, in all his twelve years on this earth, had Len seen a home as beautiful and nice-smelling and homey well managed as his own. She said it was because she was a hearth witch, but Leonard thought she was just really that good. Mama never seemed fazed by anything, and had spices and dried plants and flowers and vegetables hanging from the kitchen rafters by the bushel nearly. There were always warm cookies in the jar, even if she hadn’t baked any in a few days, and all the food she made tasted so good she won the prize at the county fair each year in anything she chose to enter. Mama also must have had some kind of magic touch with Len’s clothes, because if she was the one who mended a tear, it never came undone again, but if his teacher did it at school, the repair was ugly and always ripped again after a few weeks.

 

Yes sir, Len was pretty darn sure he had the best parents in the whole world. Which was why, when they told him he was going to spend the summer at his Gran’s house in the country this year, Len couldn’t believe they were going to just send him away like that.

 

“Don’t you like going over to Gran’s?” his mother asked.

 

“Yeah, but not _by myself_! Not for a _whole_ summer! Why do I have to go? Why can’t I stay and help you and dad and play in the creek and ride the horses like every other year? I don’t want to spend my whole summer out in the middle of _nowhere_ helping Gran cook and do chores!”

 

Len’s father laughed. “Oh, I don’t think that’s what she’ll have you do. Len, trust me, this is going to be a lot more fun than you think it will. You’ve never spent very long with your Gran before, and never without other family members for some holiday or other. She’s quite a remarkable lady. You’re going to learn a lot.”

“I don’t want to learn a lot! That’s what I do all school year! The summer is supposed to be for having _fun_.”

 

“Ah, but Len,” his father said, voice dropping low and a twinkle in his eye, “there’s a lot that can’t be learned at your school, and my mother is very good at teaching it. Your mother and I can’t teach you magic here, not the way it should be learned. What I’ll teach you, you can’t learn till you’re a bit older. But your Gran will teach you the basics. It’s going to be an interesting summer, Len. Try to enjoy it!”

 

And that was all he ever got out of his parents on the matter.

 

A week later, Len was all packed up with his suitcase and backpack, settled in on the train that would take him out to the station half an hour from his Gran’s house. As they rolled through the unpopulated land between towns, Len stared out the window and watched trees and fields roll by. But suddenly, he realized there were _things_ that looked like stringy ghosts or something, zipping around, twisting alongside the train as it rolled. If he looked hard enough, he thought he could almost make out grinning faces in the transparent specters. Spooked, Len yanked out a book and started to read.

 

When he was safely settled in the passenger seat of Gran’s small car, after the required hugs and polite greetings had been exchanged, Gran asked him how the ride over had been. Len decided he might as well ask.

 

“Gran,” he said slowly. “When I was on the train, looking out the window, I thought I saw these…smoky things, flying along beside the car. It almost looked like…they had faces. Was I imagining them?”

 

Gran took the eyes off the road for a moment to look directly over at him. “Oh no, Len. You weren’t imagining them. Those were the wisps.”

 

“The wisps?”

 

“Memories of people. People like us, who know about magic in the world.”

 

“They’re ghosts?”

 

“Not ghosts, exactly, no,” she said, screwing her face up a little. “More like…footprints of people. Not real ghosts. They’re shallow impressions left on the world.”

 

“Are they dangerous?” Len said, worry creeping into his voice.

 

“No, not usually. They can’t do much besides observe, until they finally fade away. The strongest ones can communicate through facial expressions sometimes, warn people of danger, things like that. But they’re pretty harmless. Why, did they scare you?”

 

“No!” Len protested. “They were just…weird.”

 

“Yes, well, I imagine they’d spook anyone a little bit if you didn’t know about them before seeing one. They do love riding along with the trains. Moving things have a lot of energy.”

 

“Are there lots of wisps in the world?”

“Oh yes. Wisps, and sprites, and many other things. You’ll learn about them soon enough. Oh, here we are!” Gran turned the car onto a dirt driveway leading to a pretty looking old farmhouse, large and homey looking. The wraparound porch had two swings on it, and in the twilight Len could see an enormous garden peeking out from around the back.

 

“Are you going to teach me all about magic?” he asked as they parked. Len felt a lot more excited about the prospect than he had before the train ride.

 

“I don’t know about _all_ about it,” Gran laughed. “I’m sixty-three, and I’m _still_ learning more about magic every year. But teach you the basics, yes. And with as curious as you always are, probably a good bit more, too.”

 

“When can we start? Can we start now?” Len had twisted around in his seat to stare at her pleadingly, big eyes and all.

 

“Absolutely not! You’re going to go inside and have some of the soup I made today, and then we’re both turning in for an early night. We can start in the morning, when we’re well rested, hey?”

 

“But Gran—“

 

“No buts!” Gran laughed. “You’re just like your father, so eager to learn everything all at once when you get the itch. But learning magic requires time, and tomorrow we’ll have a whole day of it, all right?” Gran said, handing Len his bags and shutting the trunk.

 

“All right,” sighed Len. The headed inside, up the porch stairs and into the inviting, warm kitchen, and that was the end of the first day.

 

Gran taught him far more that summer than he had thought was even possible. From basic principles of magic to specific methods, they covered it all.

 

“ _Magic_ is what we call a force that causes some kind of change.”

 

“Isn’t that _every_ kind of force?”

 

“Yes, technically. But magic is an energy, or, rather, magic is _all_ energy. It’s an inherent and eternal part of our universe. And all parts of the universe—the Sun, Moon, stars, Earth, people, you name it—can all lend the energy that’s stored within them as well. Has your daddy taught you about mass and energy yet?”

 

“Yes ma’am. Energy and mass are essentially the same thing, we can think of matter as just stored or contained energy.”

 

“Very good. So, energy equals magic. Magic is a force. We harness it. Everyone can do it, but at the same time, not many people can.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“Think of it this way,” Gran said, gesturing out to the countryside. “We have different sources of energy for things like electricity and flight. We humans use solar cells, windmills, water wheels, coal fire, etc., to harness energy coming from the Sun, wind, flowing water, combustion. We tap into the energy that’s flowing there and use it for power to run our electricity, our heaters, our air conditioning, our cars. That’s a form of magic, but we don’t think about it that way, because our whole society does it and it’s very standardized and industrial. But it’s the exact same principle.”

 

“So magic is literally just harnessing energy?”

 

Gran laughed. “ _Just_ , you say, as if it’s so easy! But yes. Now, some people, like your parents, and me, and you, hopefully, and others like us, are able to tap into energy ourselves, without the use of technology like solar cells. We can use it in even more ways, and find it more places. Does that make sense?”

 

“I think so,” Len said.

 

“Good.”

 

“But why can’t everyone? If we can all harness energy for power, why can’t all of us tap into energy ourselves too?”  


“Some people are just very unreceptive to it. You have to be open enough to do it. You know how some people are very good at understanding the feelings and moods of others around them, and some people aren’t good at it at all? They’re very oblivious to social cues and reading people’s expressions?”

 

Len nodded.

 

“It’s like that. Although, as a general rule, children are much more open to magic and energy and all kinds of strange things in the universe than adults are. They haven’t gotten so distracted or set in their ways yet. There are odd cases, sometimes, where someone who was closed off to it before ends up being opened, because they have a significant run in with some kind of magic—usually a scare by a magical creature like a demon or banshee, or the like.”

 

“What if you _showed_ someone that magic is real?”

 

“Sometimes their eyes are opened. But most people, bless them, could have the subway car they’re riding in levitated into the air and still stubbornly not notice. People are very good at only seeing what they expect to.”

 

[“Like that experiment with the gorilla walking through the basketball players?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY)

 

“Exactly like that. But remember, when people are confronted by magic suddenly, a lot of them don’t take it well, because it’s new and they don’t understand it. It scares them. And when people get scared, they can be dangerous, and hurt people and do things they normally wouldn’t. So be careful, Len, and don’t let anyone see you doing magic unless you know they’re safe.”

 

A few days after that, Gram began teaching him first aid and magical healing at the same time.

 

“It’s important to know,” she said very seriously, “which kind of healing is called for at any given time. Some people need stitches or to go to a hospital, and some people need a poultice of special herbs or your help to heal them with crystals. Sometimes people need regular and magic healing at the same time.”

 

“Is this what Daddy does when he takes care of people with medicine and glowing stones?”

 

“Yes. He learned it from his father before him. I don’t know more than basic healing. Your father will teach you more as you get older. But in the meantime, you can learn how to cure a headache with ibuprofen or a special cup of tea. Some people heal better from magic, and some should never ever be touched by it. You have to learn how to make the call.”

 

“How do you tell?”

 

“If someone is a magic user like us, or a magical creature, they often heal better with magic, because they’re already so receptive and used to it. It’s part of them. But for people who aren’t used to it, you have to be careful. It’s _always_ safer to not use any magic to heal them, even if you could do it in secret, than to take the risk if you’re not certain they’re all right with it.”

 

Len spent that summer with first aid and gardening books always in hand, and a Spider-Man notebook filled with notes he took on everything Gran was teaching him about herbs, and teas, and crystals, and feeling the flow of energy, and using it to his will. Three weeks in, he managed to levitate perfect orbs of water from the frog pond. By July, he was well on his way to being as good a healer for basic hurts and ills as his Gran. And by August, he was using magic in almost every part of his everyday life. It had become so natural and comfortable for him, in fact, that his Gran had to remind him as she dropped him off at the train station that he couldn’t keep using magic like that while at school.

 

“You be careful, Len,” she said seriously. “Don’t slip up around others. At home, it’s safe. But don’t even _try_ anything at school until you’re older, and even then be very, very careful. Promise me?”

 

“I promise,” Len swore, crossing his heart and hoping to die. “I wish I didn’t have to go back.”

 

“Don’t you want to see your parents?”

 

“Yeah,” Len said, “but I want to stay here with you, too. I want to keep learning about magic and going on hikes and making dinners with you. I’ll miss you.”

 

“Oh, I’ll miss you too, baby,” Gran said, squeezing him in a tight hug. “But you can come back next summer, the whole summer again if you want. And you’ll all be back this winter during the holidays to visit, as always. You’ll see me again soon.”

 

“Promise?”

 

“I promise. I love you, Leonard. Be safe.”

 

“I will, Gran. Love you too.”

 

As Len settled into his seat on the train and it pulled away down the tracks, picking up speed, he looked out the window and noticed the wisps racing alongside, just like before. But this time, before picking up his book, he watched them for a few moments, not scared at all, and smiled.


End file.
